24th East Mediterranean International Tourism & Travel Exhibition

29 August 2019

How EMITT benefits online travel agencies

Online travel agencies enable tourists to have all relevant information at their fingertips at a click of a button and they're becoming increasingly popular.

But with plenty of online travel agents on the market, how do you stand out? EMITT is the best place to boost brand awareness and meet thousands of existing and potential new partners, and end users all under one roof.

We spoke to some key online travel agents at this year’s EMITT 2019 to find out more about their experience of the show and how it benefits their business.

Tatil Sepeti

Tatil Sepeti was founded in 2004 as the first online travel marketplace in Turkey. The company covers the domestic market, outbound hotel bookings, tour bookings, car rental, MICE services, and pretty much everything in one place. We spoke to Arda Behen, Brand Manager at Tatil Sepeti.

Arda, why did you decide to take part in EMITT?

We are the official visitor sponsor of the show this year. Every year we come to make contracts with more hotels and to work with more tour companies. We think it’s an efficient way to improve our contacts in the sector.

Who are you looking to meet at EMITT?

We’re targeting hotel owners and tour company owners that we have not been able to reach until now. We hope to maintain our existing contacts, make more projects with them and increase sales.

What are your objectives for exhibiting at EMITT?

How has the show been this year?

This is my third time at EMITT and I see more and more attention every year. Last year, our stand was at least 30% more crowded than the previous year. When we saw this increase in interest, we increased our stand space even more to give us more space. Despite this, we still had more visitors than the stand could hold. Every year, interest in our company is growing. This is an indication that EMITT is a successful fair.

Fiyatı Sen Belirle

With industry experience since 2000, Fiyatı Sen Belirle is a new company launching a new hotel booking system. Rather than offering hotels’ price lists, this new system does the opposite – it asks the customers what they can afford. We spoke to Ibrahim, owner of Fiyatı Sen Belirle at EMITT 2019 to find out more.

Ibrahim, why did you decide to take part in EMITT?

EMITT springs to mind when it comes to international tourism fairs. We have to be here. We’re here to promote our business and increase brand awareness. We have the new ‘Set the Price for You’ and ‘Realise Your Dream’ online booking portals. We’re here to introduce these systems to hotels and the public.

Have you managed to meet the visitors you intended to meet?

They are definitely visiting our stand. We’re already having one-to-one meetings with hotels, hotel managers, agencies, there are many who come about health tourism.

Gezinomi

Gezinomi has a 14-year history as an online travel agency working on the Turkish market. Sinem Işık, Overseas Operations Manager at Gezinomi, tells us more about their experience at EMITT.

Why did you decide to take part in EMITT?

We’ve been attending the fair for many years. Like in any industry, there are certain trade names that are established in both internal and external markets. For example, ETS, Jolly Tour, Koral Holiday, and Gezinomi, even though they are no longer able to reach the end user of the service, we still come to the show to maintain our prestige and brand awareness, and support the show.

So you come to be present and keep an eye on the industry?

Yes. We still want our share of the market. If we weren’t here, people would question our success. Hence, we keep coming here every year to maintain our position in the market.

There's a big trend towards digitalisation at the moment. You’re a pioneer in this respect, how do you see the industry at the moment?

I don’t think you can't digitise the domestic Turkish market. The reason for this is that we’re a society that has a problem with trust. We always need an interlocutor, whether by phone or in person. We have great potential in Central and Southeast Anatolia; we have very high density of our agencies and that region already has a high need for a one-to-one interlocutor. Does that mean we’re not digitalising? No, we’re still going digital and we’re using our web portal. Our website visitors are already educated users, they’ve travelled with us before and they know us. As they’ve never had any problems with us they feel confident to use our website directly. That’s one option, some might prefer this, however we also want to make face-to-face sales. We know many customers have been overwhelmed by online and call centres and have been scammed in the past. Unfortunately, as a nation, we experience this a lot, so we can’t do advance bookings. We just don’t have the trust yet that other countries do.

We work with many hotels, and I think the more products we have, the more reliable a brand we become and the value of the brand increases. I'm talking about hotels across the whole of Turkey, not just five-star Aegean and Mediterranean hotels. So we have to be at EMITT. Both for ourselves and for the hotels we represent. EMITT is a great event. I come and meet contacts face-to-face that I wouldn’t normally be able to and we can talk things through directly. In terms of our brand, it’s also very important to be here.

Boost your brand at EMITT 2020

If you’re an online travel agent looking to boost your contacts, do business, and increase brand awareness, EMITT 2020 is the place to be.

Get direct access to over 57,000 industry professionals and tourists themselves from across Turkey and 94 other countries.